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For the “Choose Your Own Adventure” theme, I gravitated toward the readings about Hyperlinked School Libraries. Let me start with one takeaway—school libraries and teacher-librarians can be critical to the success in preparing students as 21st century learners. Not a profound or new thought, just one I kept returning to as I moved through the readings.
In Future Ready Librarians View Innovative Libraries First Hand in Baltimore County, Glick (n.d.) described how Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS), in collaboration with Future Ready Librarians (part of the Future Ready Schools initiative), were working together to transform their school libraries into creative places or “learning commons” for student inquiry and collaboration. One aspect of this was a commitment to staff all their schools with a “full-time certified school library media specialist,” creating an essential partnership with colleagues in the design and implementation of inquiry-driven lessons. In the NEA Today article, Reinvented School Libraries Unleash Student Creativity, Luster (2018) describes similar evolutions of other school libraries (including a BCPS high school) into places for learning, creation, invention, and exploration. Both readings highlighted the importance of certified teacher-librarians in facilitating these changes.
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As we progress further into the digital age, we need to equip children with the skills they need to navigate the intricacies of life online and help them understand that their online activities have far-reaching consequences (good and bad) just like real life life in person. Ní Bhroin (2019) states that the term “naïve experts” is more appropriate than “digital natives.” This distinction is important; adults often assume children can navigate technology much more easily; this is partly true, however Ní Bhroin finds there is a disconnect between knowing how to use the technology and being informed users of it (e.g., understanding the concept of protecting privacy when uploading content; interpretations of permissions/restrictions).
Park (2016) outlines eight digital intelligence skills parents and educators need to teach children to prepare them for the digital age. They include digital identity, digital use, digital safety, digital security, digital emotional intelligence, digital communication, digital literacy, and digital rights. Park states that children “spend an average of seven hours a day in front of screens—from televisions and computers, to mobile phones and various digital devices.” In 2020 with the scramble to move K-12 learning online, school districts equipped students with individual devices, and many schools continue this practice today. Ten years ago, when Park’s article was published, only a few of my junior high students had cellphones. Now, the majority of them are connected. Additionally, in the last few years, curriculum across content areas has moved online; it is not a huge leap to assume this seven-hour average has increased.
Richardson (2016) stresses that technology “is no longer an option when it comes to learning at mastery levels.” He goes on to say, “The skills, literacies, and dispositions required to navigate this increasingly complex and change filled world are much different from those stressed in the current school curriculum.”
For a lot of California schools, the school library is an untapped resource and ranks at the bottom, 48th, in terms of the student to teacher-librarian ratio at 8,579 students for every one teacher-librarian (there was no data for North Carolina or Tennessee). For comparison, in 47th place is Indiana with a ratio of 4,246 to one. The state with the lowest ratio of students to teacher-librarians is Vermont at 407 to one (National Center for Education Statistics, n.d.). An important note—the Model School Library Standards for California Public Schools: Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve recommends a ratio of 785 students for every credentialed teacher librarian (Ong, 2011).
On a positive note, however, is that California’s ratio has shown improvement in the last few school years:
- 2021-2022: 9,964 to 1
- 2022-2023: 9,173 to 1
- 2023-2024: 9,054 to 1
- 2024-2025: 8,579 to 1
I am curious as to the reason for this increase as, in general, it seems that California school enrollment is declining (or perhaps the lower ratio is due to declining enrollment; in any case, we need to keep our teacher-librarians). My hope is that this trend continues and I found this week’s CYOA readings to be a clarion call for this. While many teachers are computer literate, in conversations with colleagues, digital literacy/citizenship is an area in need of improvement, both in its instructional delivery and need for meaningful, engaging professional development. Working in partnership with a teacher-librarian would be a huge benefit for both teachers and students and contribute toward a more hyperlinked school community.
References
Glick, F. (n.d.). Future Ready Librarians view innovative libraries first hand in Baltimore County. All4Ed. https://all4ed.org/blog/future-ready-librarians-view-innovative-libraries-first-hand-baltimore-county/
Luster, S. (2018, July 29). Reinvented school libraries unleash student creativity. NEA Today. https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/reinvented-school-libraries-unleash-student-creativity
National Center for Education Statistics. (n.d.). Elementary/Secondary Information System (ELSi). Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved July 3, 2026, from https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/elsi/
Ní Bhroin, N. (2019, February 13). Digital natives or naïve experts? Exploring how Norwegian children understand the internet. LSE Blogs. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/parenting4digitalfuture/2019/02/13/digital-natives-or-naive-experts/
Ong, F. (Ed.). (2011). Model school library standards for California public schools: Kindergarten through grade twelve. California Department of Education. https://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/librarystandards.pdf
Park, Y. (2016, June 14). 8 digital skills we must teach our children. Medium. https://medium.com/world-economic-forum/8-digital-skills-we-must-teach-our-children-f37853d7221e
Richardson, W. (2016, May 14). 16 modern realities schools (and parents) need to accept. Now. Medium. https://medium.com/@willrich45/16-modern-realities-schools-and-parents-need-to-accept-now-64b98710e4e9
Hi, Iris. I’m glad to hear some people are challenging use of the term “digital natives.” Just because a young person knows how to get from point A to point B on a device doesn’t mean they are knowledgable about the risks associated with technology use. Ni Bhroin explained how many of the children surveyed were able to navigate commercial content but “were not entirely clear what we meant when we asked them about ‘in-app purchases’, or ‘pop up’ advertisements.” That’s a very concerning finding, and I hope more people will recognize the importance of digital literacy education in grade school.
I agree. The term “naive experts” is more accurate and makes plain a level of inexperience; children don’t have the frame of reference for some of the things they encounter online. They are connected so much more now so digital literacy needs to be taught explicitly, in a systematic, structured way.
Iris – i’m glad you explored this topic. Those numbers of the ratio of teacher librarians to students are troubling although you do pull out some positive aspects of the current state of things in California.
Iris, as someone who sees students after they graduate high school and are navigating the realm of higher education, I can certainly say that your post struck a chord with me. All too often I see students struggle with digital literacy, security, etc. Sure they know how to scroll social media and do many things on their mobile devices, but that doesn’t make them experts. I liked the term of naive experts in that many people assume this generation of kids/students are adequately equipped to tackle any digital environment and that simply is not true. I agree that teacher-librarians have their work cut out for them, especially when there are not enough of them to go around, to prepare students to be knowledgeable on how to navigate this ever increasing digital world. Even spending as much time as they do in front of a screen, does not prepare them for learning how to be safe and productive digital citizens. I try to include components in my information literacy sessions when invited to college classrooms to speak to these items to make them aware that these things are important to understand as they go through school and beyond.